Radiate boundless love towards the entire world — above, below, and across — unhindered, without ill will, without enmity.

The essence of mind is empty like space; yet it contains all things, like a mirror.

True freedom is not the absence of commitment but the presence of choice.

Anger or hatred is like a fisherman's hook. It is very important for us to ensure that we are not caught by it.

The practice of Zen is forgetting the self in the act of uniting with something.

Metta (loving-kindness) becomes truly effective only when it arises from a peaceful mind, a pure mind, a balanced mind.

The contradiction so puzzling to the ordinary way of thinking comes from the fact that we have to use language to communicate our inner experience, which in its very nature transcends linguistics.

Our defilements are like tame tigers. If you feed them, they're tame. If you stop feeding them, they'll eat you up.

Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.

When concentration is developed, wisdom arises. When wisdom arises, one becomes disenchanted with the five aggregates.

The highest mantra is to be without deception. The highest medicine is to have few desires. The highest meditation is not to be attached.

The mind of the beginner is empty, free of the habits of the expert, ready to accept, to doubt, and open to all the possibilities.

Our task is to learn to see clearly what is happening in each moment, rather than be lost in our reactions and judgments.

The problem is not the problem; the problem is your attitude about the problem.

Although all phenomena are empty of inherent existence, they function perfectly well.

Just as the great ocean has one taste, the taste of salt, so also this teaching and discipline has one taste, the taste of liberation.

The mind is like water. When it's turbulent, it's difficult to see. When it's calm, everything becomes clear.

The practice of mindfulness begins in the small, remote cave of your unconscious mind and blossoms with the sunlight of your conscious life.

Forgiveness is giving up all hope for a better past.

The purpose of Buddhist practice is not to become a Buddhist but to awaken to the nature of reality.

Rather than letting our negativity get the better of us, we could acknowledge that right now we feel like a piece of shit and not be squeamish about taking a good look.

Faith is not a commodity that you either have or don't have - it is an inner quality that unfolds as we learn to trust our own deepest experience.

The path is not about perfecting ourselves, but about perfecting our love.

Each moment of mindfulness is a moment of purification.

Neither from itself nor from another, nor from both, nor without a cause, does anything whatever, anywhere arise.

Don't be a bodhisatta; don't be an arahant; don't be anything at all. Being something makes you suffer.

Every moment of confusion is also a moment of wisdom, if we can learn to recognize it.

Awareness is like the sun. When it shines on things, they are transformed.

The essence of meditation is not something complicated or exotic. It is simply taking a break from our habitual patterns.

The purpose of meditation is not to create a new state of mind, but to recognize what is already present.

Long is the night to him who is awake; long is a mile to him who is tired; long is life to the foolish who do not know the true law.

Nothing can harm you as much as your own unguarded thoughts.

Life is like stepping onto a boat which is about to sail out to sea and sink.